Traders and owners will be looking to grab a slice of Egypt’s latest big LNG tender.
The country plans to buy up to 20 gas cargoes to cover demand in the first quarter of 2025, according to trading sources cited by Reuters.
Egypt has returned to being a net importer of natural gas.
It has bought more than 50 cargoes so far this year as plans to become a reliable supplier to Europe came to nothing amid dwindling domestic production.
The deals are expected to be offered by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) for between 15 and 20 cargoes.
The tenders will be issued on a six-month deferred payment basis, the sources said.
Demand for LNG is tipped to remain strong throughout next year. But domestic gas production dropped to a six-year low in May.
This will fall another 22.5% by the end of 2028, according to consultancy Energy Aspects’ forecast.
Analytics firm Kpler said last week that Egypt is expected to bring in a second floating storage regasification unit early next year to cope with increased imports.
In June, the government awarded deals for 20 cargoes through to September to combat an energy shortage in summer heatwaves.
Traders said Egypt had originally sought 17 cargoes but upped this by three, after receiving bigger-than-expected interest from more than 15 major LNG players.
Egypt had been hit by planned power cuts to protect dwindling supplies as demand surged.
Cargoes were due to be received at Hoegh LNG’s 170,000-cbm FSRU Hoegh Galleon (built 2019), which moved to Ain Sokhna under a 19 to 20-month charter that month.
Trading houses such as Glencore, Vitol and Trafigura clinched deals.
BP and TotalEnergies were also involved, together with smaller suppliers such as trader Hartree, sources said.
Egypt had not imported LNG since late 2018, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.
Four cargoes were acquired from the spot market earlier in 2024.
And Reuters reported the government had already contracted to buy 300,000 tonnes of low-quality mazut fuel oil worth $180m. This is equivalent to six MR2 tanker cargoes.
